Treatises of development : the context of developmentalism in Bangladesh

This article analyzes the structure of the development discourse that has become prominent since the end of World War II. An understanding of this structure is vital to developing an appreciation of the making of Third World nations as objects of development. The Truman inaugural address provided a basis for the formulation of treatises of development and also enabled the configuration of development's structure.1 The terms and concepts used in those treatises express a consistent account of the formation of new knowledge, institutions, and disciplines related to development. Elements of the treatises make possible the production of a set of relations within the domain of development, relations that were systematized to coordinate development deployments at various levels, from local to global. It was not these deployments alone, but also their interdependence - the structure of relations among elements, institutions, and practices - that enabled the production of the development project. Three representative treatises are examined here to uncover this structure and the interdependence among elements and practices forming development discourse.